Day out at 'Kala Ghoda Festival'

After lunch, my friends and I headed towards south Mumbai to experience ‘Kala Ghoda Festival’. Being last day of the 10-day-Festival, it was too crowded and we kept getting lost into the crowd. It was like every thirty minutes we would call on our mobile to find each other. We all had different interests and while I spend most of my time shooting the pictures, my friends were more interested in shopping knick knacks or eating. Somewhat, not only do the art in any form attracts me but even the artist at work. This man worked skillfully on sculpture of a man, I moved closer to see this artist shape a strip of plywood There were also some children learning Warli painting for Rs100, they had made cute greeting cards. There was a big crowd near the stage where there were different performers at different times, there was music playing all the time and everyone could be seen shaking their heads and tapping their feet. We stopped there to have a cup of coffee. And there was bigger crowd at food stalls, Imagine a Pani Puri for Rs35. I get better Pani Puri in my lane for just Rs12! How they loot public at the fairs! There were kiosks where they abused political trouble makers And others that abused their own government for bad sanitation in the country Children enjoyed the story telling session at BHNS auditorium And towards the evening, I enjoyed the performance poetry at Sassoon Library, which was the nodal point for literature and poetry. It was a very tiring day though fun, fun, fun!

Just thinking...........

Is it right to criticize someone in their absence? I think we have no right to criticize anybody if we do not have guts to say the same thing on their face. By criticizing we are only conditioning the opinion of other person to look at the person from our angle. We are not giving people chance to make their own opinion. And what are we trying to prove? Are we trying to say that we are superior to them and that person is too week or selfish to meet our standard of expectations? And how does it help us? We are just wasting time in spreading negative vibrations and getting entangled in this web too. And what is the use? If we must criticize, then we must have the courage to do it on their face so that he can improve. There are people who can never change. We have to learn to accept them as they are. For example if the person is having hatred for everybody for no particular reason, then it is not possible for us to help her. How can we help her if she does not know that the problem exists? So, our criticizing her is not going to help her at all, on the contrary, it could make the matter worse. We can only help those who are ready to help themselves. The person has to first admit that the problem exists, she has to be aware that she is hating everybody for no reason at all. Once she recognizes that the problem exists then she can make an effort to change herself. We cannot help anybody who is not ready to accept that the problem exists. In that case, either we accept them as they are, or steer away from her horizon so that it does not bother us. But we are most concerned about people who we love. So what is love? Love is feeling in harmony with the other person, of being on the same wave length and accepting the person as they are, so that there is no conflict at all. Love is feeling oneness with the other person so that you begin to think like them. But many times we don’t understand the meaning of love and we start to suffocate the other person by getting too attached to them. By attaching our self to other, we are only causing pain to our self. We have to learn to live in this world in a detached manner. What is detachment? Detachment is unconditional love. It is unselfish love. A love without any expectation is detachment. To maintain a relationship with attachment is impossible. Too much attachment makes us encroach on their private space and then there is conflict. …….

Randomness

The recent and most popular post that I see on the FB is this randomness where you write 25 facts about you, and tag your 25 friends to share your post. It is quite interesting to read different posts by different friends..and I have read the posts of all my friends who post it, whether they tag me or not..... Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. (To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page on the FB, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.) So Now about me: 25 random things about me... 1. I love children, their smiles, their movements, their innocent talks and I love watching them play 2. I enjoy the company of people who have good sense of humor 3. My motto for cooking is to enjoy my food the first time but don’t ask for repeats.. I can’t reproduce the same taste…. 4. I don’t like dogs but they love me, can’t understand why? Whatever happened to those mutual feelings? 5. I love listening to music on radio and also all that bakwas 6. I prefer watching films in the comfortable and nice theatre. 7. I used to love watching TV once upon a time but after internet, it is now, an excess furniture. 8. I love eating in fancy restaurants and attending wacky parties on OPM (Other People’s Money) 9. I compliment ‘Me’ in the mirror everyday and remind myself that I am the best. 10. I don’t like chocolates, cakes, sweets, fruits, ice creams and pastries, spicy food is tasty 11. I don’t crave for anything that is beyond my reach and I am most contented with whatever I have 12. Three questions I ask myself whenever I go for shopping, Do I need it? Is there enough storage available for new purchase? Is it worth it? I will buy only what I really, really need. 13. I am impatient with people who are untidy, disorganized, irritable and nags 14. I love to travel comfortably and like exploring new places. 15. I love my freedom and my life that I like to live on my own terms 16. I am offended when people mistreat or abuse their spouse in public and I am angry at people, who can’t stand up for their rights. 17. I don’t like to draw any attention to myself and prefer to do everything quietly. 18. I don’t care if some one else takes the credit for the work that I have done and feels happy wearing my crown. 19. I have great faith in my God and I believe that His Grace always protects me and makes everything easy for me. 20. I am very honest to myself and I don’t feel the need to lie because I am afraid of nobody 21. I had a very unhappy childhood. For first ten years of my life, I lived away from my family and was abused by my teachers because I was stupid. When my family came to live with me, my life changed for the better. 22. I am afraid of poor attendance at my funeral 23. I love playing cards and lexulous, online and offline. 24. I neither drink nor smoke but still I am always intoxicated by different moods. 25. Writing 25 things about me was a very difficult exercise for me but tagging 25 people is quite easy

How do I walk on these streets?

I walk down the street, I need to walk to keep myself fit, but Mumbai roads bother me…how do I walk in these broken streets of Bandra? This is the road that I pass everyday, This is the lane outside the National college, there is heavy traffic down this lane and I am pushed back towards the kerb of the street, the foot path is broken. .I am afraid of falling, even a small stone on the road can make me lose my balance. I am advised to carry a walking stick but it is quite cumbersome to carry it especially if I have one more bag to carry in my other hand. I wish BMC of Bandra would come to visit this lane and see the pitiful state of the road. They should see these open gutters where I am likely to fall if I am not looking The encroachment of street dwellers The exposed dangerous loose wires The broken foot paths Who says Bandra is happening place? I am surprised that this dirt does not bother even the young college students who pass these streets everyday !!!

My Warli painting

I sketched this on photoshop